CAMPAIGN ON 'TOXIC AIRCRAFT' STEPS UP A GEAR

Thousands of flights are put at risk each year from toxic fumes leaking into aircraft cabins, according to a leading organization representing over 500,000 aviation workers across three continents.

Liberal Democrats have joined the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive in their call for a public inquiry into substantial evidence that numerous toxic chemicals such as tricresyl phosphate and tributyl phosphate, present in oils and lubricants, leak daily into cabin air supplies.

Lib Dem Peer, Lord (Paul) Tyler has been challenging Ministers to take the problem seriously for nearly a decade, as reports of 'fume events' mount and even the Government concedes that 1 in 2000 flights are affected.  In October 2007, Lord Tyler revealed a secret agreement between BAe systems and two now-defunct Australian airlines to keep quiet 'obnoxious oil and other (the “cabin environment problem”) fumes affecting the passenger cabins of some or all of the aircraft' but Lord Bassam of Brighton, responding for the Government, refused to accept that the documents concerned anyone other than the companies that signed them.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said:  "There is now overwhelming evidence that air contamination in certain aircraft can put aircrews and passengers at very serious risks of long-term ill health. The Government cannot continue to hide behind commercial confidentiality in a matter of public safety.  Nothing less than a full public inquiry, taking account all of the international incidents that have occurred, will satisfy public concern. We cannot wait for a disaster before taking action.”

Lord Tyler is due to meet Department for Transport officials again later this month, and plans to take members of the GCAQE along with him to lay out the evidence for action.  Commenting he said, "Governments and big business continue to preside over a global scandal in this area.  We will persist in making the case for a full investigation into the harmful effects toxic aircraft can have on passengers and crew alike.  Pilots have blacked out as a result of acute exposure to these noxious fumes - the consequences could be catastrophic."